


Frosted Melancholy

by NCT



Series: Undestined Soulmates [1]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Chaptered, Character Death, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Winter
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-19
Updated: 2017-11-19
Packaged: 2019-02-04 12:50:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,847
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12771450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NCT/pseuds/NCT
Summary: Taeyong was no stranger to change, but that didn't necessarily mean that he had to like it.  The boy drew comfort from keeping his day-to-day routine the same and did not enjoy it any other way.  A minuscule change here and there were sometimes unexpectedly enjoyable, but nothing major, especially a major something that he could not control with his own hands, or maybe even with his own heart:  namely a certain someone that went by the name Nakamoto Yuta.





	Frosted Melancholy

**Author's Note:**

> So I'm doing this series where I'm going to post a bunch of different yutae soulmate fics. This one will have a couple chapters, but most will be longer one-shots. I have a couple ideas right now, but if you guys want to see something specific written or have an idea in general and want to share it, let me know!

Taeyong shut the door behind himself with a small click, the last of the warmth from his apartment melding in with the chilly morning air. He cupped his hands together to his mouth and blew out hot air, attempting to stifle the cold from seeping into his fragile, bony hands. The frosty-haired boy looked around in slight disinterest. October was the month that brought the swirling grey clouds and bone-chilling cold that Taeyong hated so much. He shivered in his oversized black coat and pulled his scarf closer to his neck. 

Don’t get him wrong; he might hate the cold but absolutely loved the snow. There was something beautiful and magical the white fluffy substance brought to the dull, colorless winter. The sight of the powdery snow falling lit a cozy fire in his heart, chasing away the dreary, lifeless atmosphere the majority of winter brought him. However much Taeyong hated change, snow was always welcome. 

Unfortunately for Taeyong, snow had yet to fall this year. 

And so the boy set off to the subway station at a leisurely pace. He was perfectly on time and so far, all was faring well for him this morning.

Taeyong had fallen into this same, comfortable schedule a little more than a year ago when he had first scored his job. He was one of the lucky college graduates that had found a job not too long after his commencement. It was just a regular office job, and the pay was so-so. However, it paid the bills and the job wasn’t too demanding or stressful. 

Taeyong was a creature of habit. Growing up, he had never dreamed of the future, only living in the present. He had changed his major in college quite a few times, not quite interested in anything his professors taught him. Others thought it was strange that he didn’t have a dream job, or even a slight inkling of what kind of job he wanted. Taeyong just wanted to get by in life and live through his hobby.

The boy loved to read, and if you had asked any of his classmates, his nose was always stuck in a book. Despite that, being an author or editor wasn’t something he was interested in. The boy loved learning about new characters and watching them develop into all different kinds of relationships. The reason might just be that he lacked relationships in his own life, so he lived through others.

He was known as the devilishly handsome, shy, nerdy guy in high school. Taeyong was polite and easy to get along with, but never reached out to anyone and never cared enough to make friends. He was a lonely soul and wouldn’t admit that he had always daydreamed about what it would be like to be able to trust and lean on another human being.

Most of his classmates in college were always excited to go home and see their family during breaks, but not Taeyong. He had failed to form a bond with his parents growing up. His father put more of an emphasis on work than he did making a relationship with his family. That left Taeyong’s mother also feeling lonely, so she dedicated her life to Taeyong. However, she tried to commit herself to the point that she had created an image of a perfect child, and she wanted Taeyong to fit the mold. Taeyong, over and over, had kept disappointing his mother. 

When his mom had figured out that Taeyong wasn’t religious, his mother was devastated. Every time Taeyong would come home from college, the only thing his mother would talk about was how she wanted him to talk to her priest to get him back on the right path in life. Taeyong had refused, and he could feel the space growing between them. 

The last straw was when Taeyong had gotten drunk and called his parents in the middle of the night, confessing that he was gay. If Taeyong had thought he had broken his mother’s heart before, he was wrong; she was now a shattered embodiment of what his mother used to be. His father was also disappointed. 

And now they all just tolerated each other. Taeyong still went home for holidays, not because he wanted to, just because it was something families did. The dinner table was always filled with empty words and emotions. Taeyong resented his parents, and his parents wondered what they ever did as parents to end up raising a kid like Taeyong.

Maybe their family was defective because his parents weren’t actually soulmates. 

Soulmates, Taeyong thought as he reached the subway station. He plopped down on the hard, cold bench. If the subway was on time, it should arrive in the next ten minutes.

Soulmates… would he ever find his? More like, how disappointed would his soulmate be having Taeyong as their other half? He didn’t even want to think about it. He had already disappointed too many others in his life already.

About 75% of the population end up finding their soulmate by the end of their life. However, there was a catch. Only one person could see the other, Soulmate A. The other person couldn’t see their soulmate, but if they touched, then the person would be able to see and hear them and would automatically know who their soulmate was, including their name, Soulmate B.

For example, one of Taeyong’s coworkers had just recently found their soulmate and had excitedly told the entire office of the experience. Doyoung had gone to the coffee shop beside their office during one of his breaks. He went up to the counter to order, but no one was there. The eager boy had looked around impatiently, wondering why no one was coming to take his order, so he reached out to hit the bell. There was no response and still no one to take his order. 

He reached out to hit the bell again, but a soft barrier was blocking it from his touch, and he could suddenly see a hand in front of the bell. Doyoung’s eyes traveled from the hand, up the arm, and saw a handsome face staring at him in confusion. 

Doyoung gasped and pointed a shaking finger at the poor, bewildered barista. “You! Jung Jaehyun! Y-You’re my soulmate!?”

Realization crashed upon Jaehyun the barista. “That’s why you rang the bell? Because you couldn’t hear or see me?” He said slowly, “So… you’re my soulmate?”

Suddenly shy, a small smile appeared on Doyoung’s face as he nodded. And he ran.

Doyoung had come racing back to the office to tell everyone what had happened and asked, “So what do I do??”

Taeyong had sat in his seat in utter disbelief. He felt bad for Jaehyun the barista. Right after meeting his soulmate, he had taken off on him in less than a minute. To this day, Doyoung was still too shy to meet with his barista soulmate again.

So it turned out that Doyoung was Soulmate type B, and Jaehyun was Soulmate type A.

Doyoung’s story was more interesting than most. Throughout his school years, many of the students met their soulmates through the empty seats in the classroom settings. At the beginning of the year, the teacher would do roll call, but to some, there would be an empty seat where their soulmate sat. Of course, their soulmate could see them, but only the one who couldn’t could touch them and know. 

Taeyong wondered which kind of soulmate he was. Was he the one who could see them (A) or was he the one who couldn’t see them (B)? If he was the one that could see his soulmate, he would still have no idea if it was them or not. Everything was left to the person who couldn’t see the soulmate. 

Taeyong stood up, stretched, and shook the stinging cold from his legs. He wiggled his prickling, numb butt a bit to get his blood flowing since the bench had been so bitingly cold.

He welcomed the warmth as he stepped onto the subway, a lot of the passengers familiar faces since he rode the same bus every day at the same time during the weekdays. The handsome boy nodded to some of them, used to the amazed stares at his strikingly gorgeous features. 

That was another thing Taeyong hated about himself: his face. It didn’t matter where he was; his room, a bathroom, etc., he never looked in the mirror. He even avoided peering into his reflection on his phone. The frosty-haired boy was afraid of his own stare. It was utterly terrifying. 

Taeyong sat in his usual seat. He was uncomfortable if he sat somewhere else, and the others on the subway knew. There were days when some irregular people would ride the subway and take his seat. His day would automatically be ruined, and his mood would drop significantly. 

Luckily for Taeyong, he got to happily sit in his regular seat. The contented boy didn’t feel like checking up on his SNS today, so instead he chose to do another one of his favorite things: people watch. 

Most of the people, middle-aged and single, were in their business suits ready to go to work. Some were old folks who had nothing else to do but meet up with other older friends to get breakfast or a cup of coffee together. Taeyong was usually one of the youngest aboard.

A movement to his left caught his attention. A young boy, probably around his age, had turn around and started to blow on the glass window. Taeyong curiously watched as he blew until a good amount of the glass had fogged up. The boy reached up a finger and drew a cute little smiley face. He tucked back his wavy, chestnut hair as he admired his work, and Taeyong audibly gasped as the object of his interest turned back around once again facing the front of his seat. 

Taeyong had never seen anyone so mind-blowingly beautiful. Was it the bright, stunning smiled plastered on the boy’s face? Was it the wavy locks of hair that so perfectly framed his face? Or could it possibly be the wide, curious, and mischievous eyes that were so big, bright, and full of life? 

There was a lively and daring atmosphere surrounding the attractive boy, and Taeyong wanted a taste of it. If the boy’s atmosphere had a color, it would most certainly be a bold red: the color of life, energy, freedom, or whatever else Taeyong could feel from the boy. Taeyong’s color would most certainly be blue: calm, cold, disengaging. They were complete opposites, Taeyong already could tell, or maybe he was reading too much into it. The fact still was that he had never encountered such a person before. 

The entire walk to work, Taeyong’s mind was preoccupied by the boy from the subway. He had hoped that they had the same stop, but he had gotten off one stop before his. Taeyong wondered if he was a student or maybe employed somewhere close to here? Was that the last and only time he was going to be able to see him? 

It turned out that Taeyong didn’t have to worry because he was on the bus the next day, the day after that, and the day after that, etc. He must’ve gotten a new job, Taeyong thought. 

Week after week Taeyong would simply watch, and every day the dazzling boy would write something new on the window through the misty fog. There were a lot of smiley faces, stars, hearts, etc., but never a word.

The more time that passed, the more agitated Taeyong became. He wanted to know the boy more; he wanted to talk to him about so many things. How would he act if he was mad? What kind of face would he make when he cried? Could his smile stretch any farther? Taeyong wanted to be the source of his smile. 

Some days his chestnut brown hair would be wavy, other days straight, and most other days it was obvious that he didn’t have time to do his hair because it was bedhead. Taeyong would chuckle to himself on the bedhead days. Not only did he have bedhead but his eyes would still be droopy with sleep. It was annoyingly cute, and Taeyong wondered on those days why.

The agitation started to show at work. Sometimes it would get to the point where Taeyong would audibly sigh in frustration, many times a day. Maybe a month after encountering the fascinating boy, Doyoung had had enough of Taeyong’s frustration.

“You stressing out is stressing me out.” Doyoung popped his head up over the thin wall that separated their desks. 

Taeyong grunted to himself; he didn’t feel like dealing with Doyoung today. 

“Don’t grunt at me!” Doyoung sighed and wheeled his chair around and into Taeyong’s cubicle. “I know we don’t get along most of the time and tend to fight a lot, but I feel like recently you’ve been having a hard time…?”

Taeyong turned his chair around to face Doyoung, who was now comfortably sitting in his chair, waiting for Taeyong to spill.

To be quite honest, Taeyong was surprised Doyoung would care, or even offer help in general. 

“Uhh.” Taeyong wasn’t quite sure what to say. Could he trust Doyoung? Wait. Why did he have to have trust for this? Wasn’t it just a small crush? What’s the harm in someone knowing? He just wasn’t used to talking to people about, well, anything?

“You like someone don’t you?” Doyoung playfully wiggled his eyes at the stone-faced boy. 

“I-What?” The frosty hair boy asked in surprise. “Like… someone? No. Uh.” 

Doyoung giggled at the clearly flustered a red-faced boy. 

Taeyong glared and embarrassingly muttered, “Maybe… a crush… or something. A very small crush!”

“I don’t think a very small crush would affect you to the extent of how exasperated you’ve been the past couple weeks.” Doyoung explained slowly, “Have you tried talking to this person?” Doyoung didn’t know whether his crush was a girl or a boy, so he decided to skip the gender pronoun.

Taeyong sat quietly in thought for a couple moments before speaking in a small voice, “No.” Taeyong sighed, “I’m not good at talking to people, obviously.”

“Yeah, obviously! You’re like one of the most awkward people I’ve ever met, no offense.” 

“Aren’t you supposed to be making me feel better?” Taeyong grunted.

Doyoung shrugged his shoulders, “I think that should be your first step.”

How could Taeyong take romantic advice from someone who ran away from his soulmate? But his words did have some truth to them. How was he ever supposed to get to know someone he couldn’t even talk to?

After more than a month of sitting and just observing, Taeyong decided to finally take action.

The walk to the subway station seemed irritatingly colder than usual, and the shivering boy wished for once that he had worn gloves.

It felt like hours, but in reality only ten minutes, for the subwa to arrive. Taeyong’s heart was racing like crazy, every nerve in his body alert. Instead of sitting in his regular seat, he looked for the beautiful boy, saw an open seat next to his, and sat.

Taeyong was stiff as a board, afraid to even peak in the brown-haired boy’s direction, but the boy didn’t even so much as notice him. Taeyong was aware of every movement the boy made from the corner of his eye.

Taeyong knew, when the boy turned around, what he was about to do. The young boy started blowing on the glass, and that was Taeyong’s queue to put his plan into action. Taeyong also turned around and started blowing on the glass. Too absorbed in his own work, the boy kept blowing. Taeyong finished before him, with a small “Hi” written in his fog bubble. 

As the boy finished his own star, he took notice of the “Hi” Taeyong had written not too far away from his. The beautiful boy’s already large eyes had grown even further in shock. His eyes moved from the window to where Taeyong was sitting, clearly searching.  
The subway unexpectedly lurched as it was nearing another stop. The surprised boy fell on top of Taeyong, his arms steadying himself on Taeyong’s thighs. He looked at his hands in horror, and swiftly detached his arms from Taeyong.

“I-I’m so sorry! The subway… kind of…” Their eyes met, and Taeyong could only smile in wonder.

The boy awkwardly cleared his throat and held out his hand, “Hi, I’m Nakamoto Yuta.”

Taeyong took Yuta’s soft, warm hand into his and just stared. Taeyong had thought for a second, just one tiny second, that Yuta hadn’t seen him, that Yuta could possibly be his soulmate. Why wasn’t he saying anything? Did he really not know Taeyong’s name?

Knowing he waited a bit too long to introduce himself, he finally brought himself to say his name, “Lee Taeyong, nice to meet you.”

“I’m uhh… sorry about falling on you. How can I make it up to you? Do you like coffee?” 

Everything was happening so fast for Taeyong. “I-I mean it was no big deal.” He laughed nervously. “But I do like coffee?” Taeyong was going to do everything he could to not let go of this opportunity.

“Perfect!”

When Yuta had asked to go get coffee together, Taeyong was expecting to set up a date, like text each other time and place, but he definitely didn’t expect Yuta to mean right now.

Taeyong was torn. He had started working at the office over a year ago and had yet to miss a single day or even be late by a minute. One day wouldn’t hurt right? It was easier to convince his self if he looked at Yuta. That was motivation enough. He sent a quick text to Doyoung, letting him know that he would be late.

Ironically enough, Yuta had meant the coffee place right next to his office building, the same one where Doyoung’s soulmate worked. Taeyong had never been there before, not being the biggest lover of coffee.

The coffee shop was warm, cozy, and quaint, as it was very green and red, definitely decorated for the holidays. Taeyong could definitely get used to coming here, especially with good company. 

“Jaehyun!” Yuta waved his hand and ran up to the cash register. 

“Yutes! What’re you doing here? I thought you worked today?” Jaehyun asked, happily surprised by his friend’s visit.

Yuta winked and turned around to gesture Taeyong forward. “I found a new friend on the subway today.” 

Jaehyun looked between the two, eyebrows raised in mild surprise. “I see.” Taeyong rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment.

“So,” Jaehyun clapped his hands together, “What can I do for you two?” 

“I’m just feeling a chocolate peppermint mocha. Taeyong?” 

Because he wasn’t too experienced and he heard the word chocolate, he decided, “I’ll just do the same!” 

Yuta motioned for them to sit down, and Jaehyun brought out their drinks since they weren’t too busy. He even added in a free chocolate muffin. Taeyong instantly took a liking to Jaehyun.

Noticing Taeyong drooling over the muffin, Yuta pushed it towards him. “You can have it. I’m not too big into a lot of sweets.” 

Taeyong didn’t need to be told twice. 

Once Taeyong demolished the muffin, Yuta stared at Taeyong in fascination, “For someone with such a cold exterior, you seem pretty soft on the inside.” 

Taeyong choked on what was left of his beloved muffin and attempted to clear his throat, “I hear that a lot, except no one’s really called me soft before.”

Yuta simply shrugged and smiled.

Taeyong learned that Yuta taught Japanese at a high school not too far from the office, and he was the head soccer coach. He had moved to Korea with his grandma when he was ten since both his parents passed away in a car accident. 

The boys sat talking in the little shop for hours, not noticing the time easily slipping by. Taeyong hadn’t enjoyed himself to this extent for such a long time. So much that it didn’t bother him all that much anymore that he had missed work. It was amazing, honestly, how much one person could affect him. 

Just looking at Yuta, or even being in his very presence, made Taeyong giddy and carefree. He felt like a different person; a better person. 

The conversation had shifted to Taeyong’s work, which reminded him, “Oh, by the way, I work with Jaehyun’s soulmate.” 

“Oh!?” Yuta stood up in surprise and looked over to Jaehyun who was taking orders from a customer. “What’s his name? Jaehyun has been really upset ever since he met him. He hasn’t seen him since!”

“His name is Kim Doyoung.” Taeyong rolled his eyes, “And I feel bad for Jaehyun. He’s a bunny who never stops talking and is annoying and thinks he’s always right.” Taeyong sighed after his short rant. “But I guess he’s kind of caring and does his job well.”

Yuta giggled behind his hand, “It sounds like Jaehyun is going to have fun with this one. Honestly, Doyoung sounds like what Jaehyun needs in his life.”

“Since we’re on the topic of soulmates…” Taeyong shyly asked, “Have you found yours?”

Yuta’s body tensed up and his eyebrows furrowed a bit. Seeing Yuta’s discomfort, Taeyong was about to try to change the topic when Yuta spoke, “I… have. But. We’re not… meant to be together.”

Taeyong’s heart grew heavy and disappointment was dripping in his veins. “That’s- I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked.”

Yuta shrugged, smile back on his face. Taeyong thought for a second that Yuta had looked at him with longing, but Taeyong was also being very delusional today.

Backs aching, the boys finally decided to leave their happy bubble of a coffee shop to go home. The bells jingled as Taeyong pushed open the door, little white flakes fighting to fly into the doorway.

Snow! Taeyong suddenly sprint outside to take in the first snow of the year. He raised his hands in merriment and looked up at the little white miracles and laughed giddily.

Taeyong turned around to find a rosy-cheeked, smiling Yuta innocently looking up at the sky, surrounded by the snow fall, his wavy chestnut locks dotted with the feathery snow. Taeyong could only gaze in speechlessness. How could someone look so… so… elegant? Graceful? Stunning? Was there a word to even describe what Taeyong was feeling? 

Taeyong’s feet moved on their own and lead him towards his angel. His hand reached up to softly dust the snow off Yuta’s hair. Taeyong didn’t know what to say, so his mouth did it for him, “It’s snowing.”

Yuta smirked and dusted the snow off of Taeyong’s hair in return. “It is.” He lightly poked him in the nose and started walking to the subway station.

Taeyong followed like the whipped puppy he was.


End file.
